Clipping of news on Brazilian Culture, Law and Citizenship
23/08/2013
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Red meat may increase risk of Alzheimer Photo: Berg Silva / 25.07.2011
LONDON - Eating lots of red meat may increase the risk of Alzheimer's disease. A study from the University of California, Los Angeles, in patients with disease, found an increase in the level of iron in the hippocampus, a brain region often damaged in the early stages of the disease.
When comparing the results with a set of brain scans, researchers also found that levels of iron were attached to tissue damage in Alzheimer's patients but not in healthy elderly. Although the study did not prove that iron is one of the causes of the disease, the results suggest that the nutrient "may in fact contribute to the cause", and decreasing intake of red meat and iron supplements can reduce the amount of iron accumulates in the brain.
Most studies on Alzheimer was developed based on tau protein and amyloid-beta collected from the brains of patients and associated with neuronal death or disruption. In this new study, the researchers suggest that iron accumulation may be a third risk factor for the disease.
Even if necessary, iron is a nutrient that can become toxic in large quantities. The highest concentrations of iron in the brain are found in cells which produce myelin, the fatty tissue covering the nerve fibers and allows communication between them. The destruction of myelin promotes plaque buildup leading to deterioration and cell death.
The researchers studied two brain regions in 31 Alzheimer's patients: the hippocampus, which plays an important role in memory and is usually damaged early in the disease, and the thalamus, a region linked to sensory perception and motor skills, which generally remains healthy until the last stage 's disease.
Published in "Journal of Alzheimer's Disease", the study reports that high levels of ferritin, the protein that stores iron were found in the hippocampus of Alzheimer's patients, but not in the thalamus.
- The accumulation of iron in the brain can be influenced by changing environmental factors such as the amount of red meat and dietary supplements of iron that is consumed, and premenopausal women have hysterectomies - explained study author, George Bartzokis .
Source: The Globe - Online
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This article was translated by an automatic translation system, and was therefore not reviewed by people.